Superman (Kingdom Come)

Latest revision as of 05:54, 24 June 2023

Superman in Justice Society of America v3 #10.

Superman is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Kingdom Come

Kal-El

Over the years, Superman worked in his secret identity of journalist Clark Kent, working for the Daily Planet, and soon fell in love and wed with his fellow reporter Lois Lane. (Justice Society of America Kingdom Come Special Superman v1 #1)

Around 10 years ago, the Joker flooded the offices of the Daily Planet with his trademark toxin, killing all the staff except for Lois Lane, who finds a gas mask. Lois tries to attack the Joker, who fractures her skull in retaliation. Superman returned as Lois succumbs to her injuries and dies. As the Joker arrived for his trial, he was killed by a new superhero named Magog. In an instance of jury nullification, Magog is acquitted for his act. Superman was appalled by the public embracing a killer as a hero. Although Superman had Magog put on trial for his murder, Magog was acquitted for his cold-blooded act as the people accepted him for permanently ridding a very dangerous criminal. This act shattered Superman's faith in general goodness over the general populace's acceptance of murder as a reasonable way to deal with the criminal problem while overtly grown weary of superheroes like Superman whose refusal to kill allowed super-villains to terrorize the populace again and again once they escaped or were paroled. Feeling defeated by the public's perception, Superman gave up his heroic ways and retreated from the world at large by spending his time in the Fortress of Solitude where he merely observed the acts of humankind rather than acting, until new events inspired his return less than a decade later. (Kingdom Come v1 #1)

During Superman's absence, he intentionally failed to realize his importance as a constant inspiration/role model to other heroes. Other heroes, equally disturbed at the public's overwhelmingly positive reaction to Magog's actions, withdraw from the world at large or travelled to the far-flung future, leaving a power vacuum that is soon filled by the new generation of 'heroes' Magog represents. Without the moral restriction on superpower actions provided by Superman and his generation even the aggressive though still non-lethal Batman, there is little or no distinction between 'heroes' and 'villains' in the new superpowered combatants. Metahumans battle openly in the streets without true cause, concern for collateral damage, or innocent passers-by. Average humans, demoralized by the loss of their true heroes, the disregard for them the new generation displays, and their inability to do anything about the state of affairs, had fallen into a societal depression. Efforts that celebrate human achievement, like professional sports, the Olympics and Nobel Prizes, have been abandoned. The dark state of the world comes to a head when the Justice Battalion, led by Magog, attacked the Parasite with excessive and unnecessary force, which indirectly resulted in the irradiation of the entire state of Kansas and parts of the surrounding states, taking out a large portion of America's food production. (Kingdom Come v1 #1)

Coaxed back into action by Wonder Woman, Superman decides to return to Metropolis and re-form the Justice League. He manages to collect former heroes including Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkman, and Dick Grayson, now known as Red Robin, among others and some of the newer heroes who had risen during his absence. Superman's Justice League constructs a prison and gathers up new violent heroes who followed in the example of Magog. A battle soon breaks out between the imprisoned heroes, the Justice League, a third group of heroes led by Batman, and Lex Luthor's Mankind Liberation Front—which includes a mind-controlled Captain Marvel. (Kingdom Come v1 #2) As conditions worsen, the United Nations Secretary General Wyrmwood authorizes the deployment of three tactical nuclear warheads, hardened against certain metahuman powers. (Kingdom Come v1 #3) The battling heroes manage to stop two of the bombers, but the third drops its warhead. Superman attempts to stop the bomb, but Captain Marvel frees himself from Luthor's control and sacrifices himself in Superman's place. The bomb goes off, killing many superhumans. In the aftermath of the battle, Superman helps fix the damage done to Kansas and resumes his identity as Clark Kent. He begins a romantic relationship with Wonder Woman where the two were expecting a child. (Kingdom Come v1 #4)

New Earth

At the immediate interval of the explosion, Superman was taken from his own dimension to New Earth. This passage to New Earth was a result of a dimensional portal created inadvertently by Starman Thom Kallor, when he used his powers to stop a raging mystical fire that was emanating from the hole in the chest of the villain Goth which the Justice Society of America couldn't otherwise contain. Starman succeeded in creating a black hole and placing Goth inside it; although it seemed that Goth's powers harmlessly erupted in the black hole, it also caused a dimensional rift that brought this Superman to New Earth. (Justice Society of America v3 #9) Superman was greatly depressed, due to his own life events and in part made worse by seeing the counterparts of his dead Earth-22 friends at JSA Headquarters. Although the JSA sought to unravel the mystery of his appearance and identity, he made what appeared to be an eventually successful escape attempt, during which he exerted an impressive level of power, including defeating Starman's gravity powers which had made Superman ten times heavier than normal. It was soon revealed, however, that his 'escape' was not an effort to run from the JSA, but rather to save a young woman who was attempting suicide. He had heard her mumble about how the "world doesn't need her" from blocks away, and her depth of despair snapped him out of his own feelings of failing and loss. Upon her rescue he says, with words meant for them both, that "Giving up never helped anyone miss. Trust me on that." In saving her, he began to save himself. Superman then returned to the JSA headquarters and met with the JSA, the Justice League, and his own younger counterpart, the Superman of New Earth, to discuss his real identity and background. (Justice Society of America v3 #10)

The struggles and depression caused by Superman's life thus far continued to color his outlook for some time. This could be seen, for example, such as when dealing with Japanese metahuman assassins who were trying to kill the new Judomaster, Superman showed he had little or no problem threatening the lives of his opponents. Whereas, in the past he would have first sought to prevent a villain from causing civilian casualties, it is shown that he would sooner assault or harm the villain directly rather than remove them from the area. (Justice Society of America v3 #11) However, Kal-El also sought an understanding with Power Girl such that they could act as each others' family, since each of them reminded the other of deceased family members, which Power Girl accepted. (Justice Society of America v3 #12) After Mr. America brings word of his run-in with William Matthews, also known as Gog, to the JSA, Superman then visits Metropolis. While there he uses his powers to hear the various conversations around the city and to check for his New-Earth counterpart, which leads him eventually to the Daily Planet. While there he is almost overwhelmed by the sight of his friends, and, more profoundly, the sight of Lois being alive. This emotional tumult is interrupted by the New Earth Superman's arrival, however, and they talk about Gog and the danger he represents. The differences between the two Supermen is further shown when Kal-El demonstrates how much more powerful he is over the New Earth Superman by hearing something in Gotham City with his super-hearing that the New Earth Superman cannot, and it pertains to Gog. Arriving in Gotham City, they both address Hercules, who had been fighting Gog and had survived his attack. When New Earth Superman goes to question him, Hercules elbows him in the face causing Superman to bleed and then he punches him, causing him to fly into a building. When Hercules comes face to face with Earth-22 Superman, Hercules goes to punch him, only to find out his attack has no effect whatsoever, except to damage Hercules' hand. The Earth-22 Superman smacked Hercules away in the same way Hercules had done earlier to the New Earth Superman. (Justice Society of America v3 #13)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Powers and abilities

Kal-El shared most of the powers of an empowered Kryptonian similar to that of the mainstream Superman, including vast superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, senses, intelligence, regeneration, invulnerability and longevity; super breath, heat vision, x-ray vision, and flight. However, it was shown that this incarnation of Superman was much more powerful than those of the mainstream Superman. (Justice Society of America v3 #13)

Notes

• Superman was created by Mark Waid and Alex Ross where he made his first appearance in Kingdom Come v1 #1 (May, 1996).
• The character was based on Superman who was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

In other media

Television

Appearances

• Kingdom Come v1: (1996)
• Justice Society of America v3:

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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